| OCR Text |
Show THE PAINTED TURTLE. The painted turtle, though not considered eatable is, sold along with several other turtles, and figure as a "diamond back" in the famous terrapin supper. Indeed in some seasons there are more wood turtles (chelopue inaculotus, Le Conte) and red-bellied turtles (pseudemyn rugora, Shaw) sold in the Philadelphia markets than edible salt-water terrapins or diamond backs (malacoclemine palustris, Gmel., Gray). The game dealers call the female turtles "cows," and ask higher prices for them than the "bulls," as they are generally fatter and often contain eggs. I examined a netful of terrapins at a game store a week or two ago and found them all to be of the rugosa species. Many of them were dead, and two were so "very dead" that the eyes had dried up and sunk deeply into their sockets. And yet the wily caterer will buy them and stew them with wine and spices, and the epicure will smack his lips over this reptilian carrion and exclaim, "How delicious!" The painted turtle may be recognized by its smooth carapace, the large plates of which are dark olive or greenish black, margined with yellow, and the marginal plates with internally red markings. The plastron (undershell) is of a bright yellow color; sometimes, though rarely, it has a few dark spots. The head is black, with two or more spots on the sides; the neck marked with yellow lines. The legs are streaked with red and black. When full grown it measures from six to eight inches. -Scientific American. |
